Should We Prepare for this Winter's El Nino and Possible Cyber Attacks?

 After last nights Apocalypse programme on Channel 4 (which was just an hour of 20 and 30 year olds arguing) set in an abandoned town in the US which is now used by the military for training,  I'm jumping on the bandwagon!.........

Seems there is a Weather Event about to happen and Russia are planning a cyber attack in Suffolk!

"An El Nino event could disrupt UK weather, laying bare the vulnerabilities flagged by the Climate Change Committee's new report"

There is a factory in Suffolk producing drones for Ukraine which could be attacked by Russia. With a  small airfield in Suffolk being used to train the drone operators. We also have two USAF air bases and a Nuclear Power station. Any could have a cyber attack or an attack on the electric supply. (Although if there was a problem at Sizewell B then we probably wouldn't need anything stored at all!)

 I'm not panicking but can see no harm in being prepared for problems - it's better to have things in the cupboard and not need them than the other way round.

In Son and DiL's village they are actually having a special meeting on the 5th of October

People’s Emergency Briefing, St Mary’s Church

I've not heard about my village being briefed yet.

Anyway, I doubt it's possible to plan for long term problems or a zombie apocalypse! but it feels good to have a few just-in-case items.

I decided to order some more gas cartridges for my small picnic stove. I've used this three or four times since living here when electric has been off for a few hours. It doesn't happen often since a local transformer was upgraded but having a way to heat water for a coffee or a hot water bottle is comforting.

 There are batteries for torch and a radio in the cupboard and I also have a very old wind-up/solar power radio (it doesn't run long either way now but still works a bit). For light I have candles and a lantern that is rechargeable from the mains. I found a camping light that can be recharged by winding and also has a built in solar panel and can also charge a phone and have ordered that also.

In the garage I have a good stock of wood for the wood-burner - logs and kindling, firelighters and matches and BiL will save me some newspapers for fire lighting too.

In the medicine cupboard I always have a supply of paracetamol and ibuprofen, antiseptic and antihistamine creams and plasters and  reorder prescription meds from the pharmacy at the village health centre in good time.

I try and keep the car at least half full of diesel - which is a couple of hundred miles, enough to get out and about to family or shops for several weeks.

There's one thing that went from the shelves early in covid that I've never understood - loo rolls. I'm still getting a box full once a year from the Who Gives a Crap company so no shortage here. 

Then there's food and water as per instructions to have a supply - just in case. There is new government advice due later this month.................

The initiative is intended as a practical, "common sense" approach to enhance household self-sufficiency, which in turn frees up emergency resources for the country’s most vulnerable populations. [1]

What to stock: Households will be encouraged to keep a three-day supply of bottled water and non-perishable tinned foods (such as tinned meat, fruits, and vegetables) that do not require cooking, alongside emergency tools like manual tin openers and torches. [1]
When it launches: While initial reports leaked around August 25–28, the formal guidance and an official "Prepare" website are expected to be heavily publicised later in autumn, with some frameworks pointing to mid-September 2026. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The reasons: The policy update comes in response to heightened risks from hostile state cyber-attacks on infrastructure, severe summer heatwaves causing agricultural droughts, and potential disruptions to power or water grids. [1, 2]
The "War Book": Alongside the public advice, the government is updating its classified crisis blueprint—traditionally known as the "war book"—to prepare civilian and military infrastructure for external threats. [1]

Officials and supermarket bodies have heavily emphasized that this is a long-term preparedness measure and not a call for immediate panic buying

 Years of living miles from a shop means I never let cupboards get low on food and I have a 5 litre bottle of water in the freezer which works like a giant ice pack if the electric goes off (two or three 4 pint  bottles of milk too and they do the same) and a couple of small bottles of water in the cupboard and keep my filter jug in the fridge full. Plus the water butts outside have refilled with recent rain. I don't think there's anyway to have an indefinite water supply unless you happen to have a well or your own supply of spring water. But some of the things suggested to stock for food shortage just wouldn't appeal at all - like baked beans. If I was stressed/depressed without much heat and light they would be way down my list.

One of the frugal you-tube ladies talked about spending £100 on her pre-autumn prepper pantry. She has a supply of  oats and dried milk to last a year, peanut butter that she doesn't like much, jars of fish paste (yuck) and enough canned lentils to last until 2029!

 I don't have the enthusiasm for  stocking up that much so decided to get in just a few items that can be heated in one saucepan on the picnic stove to make a filling meal.

In the end I only got 3 cans to keep in the cupboard. That'll do for now. These are the sort of tins that we used to take camping when feeding 5 and cooking on two gas rings - they were cheap back  then, definitely aren't now. 

I was going to buy some canned vegetables until I discovered the 3 cans of carrots in the cupboard were best before 2022 so maybe I'd better eat those first before buying more!

According to the Labels list there's a post like this back in 2023, in Covid Strange Times too (2020) and back in 2018 when we had storms and power cuts- seems I've been preparing for years and nothing too drastic has happened...................... yet!